Bayonetta

Bayonetta is a game developed by Platinum Games (also called "Team Little Angels") and directed by Hideki Kamiya. It follows the exploits of the eponymous witch, Bayonetta, as she battles against angelic enemies.

The sequel has been announced to be exclusively for the Wii U published by Nintendo.

Similarities to Devil May Cry
Bayonetta plays very similarly to the Devil May Cry games in that the player is asked to string together long and stylish combo attacks to defeat foes. Bayonetta is able to double jump, destroy background objects, switch her weapons during play, shape-shift into different and more powerful forms, and slow down time. Gameplay is broken down into multiple chapters. There are also several difficulty modes, ranging from "Very Easy Automatic" to "Non-Stop Climax", and a scoring system that grades the player's stylishness.

Additionally, both series have separate gauges for player vitality and magic, with magic being required for special techniques and replenished by executing stylish combos and taunting. Health and magic are extended separately by collecting pieces of different items either purchased from stores or found during gameplay. Healing items of both series follow a similar color pattern: Green items heal health and purple items heal magic. Enemies in both games drop items which are used as currency for purchasing items and new techniques. Also, both series feature unlockable alternate costumes.

Devil May Cry references
Being two games developed by the same creator, Bayonetta had several references to the Devil May Cry series. The items linked to the left are various Devil May Cry items referenced or mentioned in Bayonetta:

Characters

 * Enzo - the name of Bayonetta's informant.
 * In the Bayonetta Artbook, Enzo is seen playing Poker with a clothes-less Dante. (See image to the right)
 * Dante - Bayonetta fights a light haired, red-clothed antagonist more than once. This character can deflect her bullets with shots of her own and becomes playable later on, much like Dante in Devil May Cry 4.
 * The character Luka shares almost exactly the same facial design of Dante in Devil May Cry 4, right down to the stubble on his chin and the same "discolored" eyes.
 * Phantom - Bayonetta can summon Phantasmaraneae, a magma spider.
 * Gigapede - Bayonetta can summon Scolopendra, a vile centipede.
 * Griffon - Bayonetta can summon Malphas, a black raven.
 * The first time Malphas is summoned, it is in a coliseum while battling against a giant, flying opponent.
 * Eva - In the Bracelet of Time's description, Eva is a historical witch who entered into a contract with a "Legendary Dark Knight".
 * The Dark Knight Sparda - is also known as "The Legendary Dark Knight" in the description.
 * The Despair Embodied - The character Father Balder attacks in a very similar manner to this boss.
 * Sanctus - The character "Father Balder" Balder shares a slight similarity with Sanctus is that they both required a descendant of a powerful family (Nero and Dante were the descendants of Sparda, the demon who Sanctus worshipped, and Bayonetta/Cereza being a descendant of the Umbra Clan and Balder himself.) in order to awaken a powerful colossus that posed a threat to not only the human world, but the demon world as well. However, Jubileus would, in a sense, also pose a threat to Paradiso when she went berserk from not having Bayonetta/Cereza serve as the Left Eye.
 * Mundus and The Savior - The giant boss Jubileus shares similar characteristics with these two Devil May Cry bosses.
 * Jubileus is also female, much like one of the rejected designs of The Savior.
 * Tony Redgrave - The journalist in the game who discovered Bayonetta is named Antonio Redgrave.
 * Hideki Kamiya claimed that Dante used the name while he was a mercenary due to his respect for Antonio. However Luka, Antonio's son, has the same facial features and the same silver/discolored eyes as Dante.
 * Trish - The character Luka lists his "girlfriends" - Claire, Trish, Ammy, and Sylvia.
 * The other three names are references to female characters from other Capcom games directed by Hideki Kamiya: Claire Redfield of Resident Evil, Amaterasu (Ammy) from Ōkami, and Sylvia from Viewtiful Joe.
 * In a piece of concept art, Luka is depicted with 3 cats and 1 dog, all of whom share the color schemes of the characters they are named after. Trish is a black cat wearing a yellow bow; Clair is a brown cat with a red bow; Sylvia is a silver, long-haired cat with a purple bow; and Ammy is a white dog with a red collar.
 * Nero - Bayonetta's story bears similarities to that of Nero from Devil May Cry 4. Both were manipulated by white-garbed men acting as the leaders of a seemingly holy religious group. After defeating their manipulators in battle, both were used to awaken a powerful, statuesque being regarded as a deity. Both were subsequently saved by a white-haired, red-clothed person they regarded as a rival, and both proceeded to destroy the entity they helped revive.
 * Rodin is named after Auguste Rodin, a French sculptor who worked on a sculpture called the Gates of Hell, inspired by Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Nero was also called "Rodan" in development, after this same artist, before his name was changed to Nero.

Enemies

 * Inspired - resembles and attacks like Echidna the She-Viper's dragon form.
 * Countering Inspired's rush attack results in Bayonetta piloting the winged serpent head-first into the ground, not unlike Nero's Buster technique for Echidna.
 * Fairness and Fearless - cat-like enemies with very similar attacks to Shadows.
 * Joy - attacks with whip and sword and can teleport, just like The Despair Embodied from Devil May Cry 2.

Moves & Weapons

 * Bangle of Time - Bayonetta has an item named "Bracelet of Time" (in the concept art it is explicitly referred to as the "Bangle of Time").
 * Agni & Rudra - Bayonetta's weapon Durga behaves similiarly to these demons, in being a combination of two elements, one of which being fire..
 * Ebony & Ivory - Bayonetta wields two pairs of customized pistols.
 * Luce & Ombra - The bonus playable character Jeanne, has four customized pistols to match with Bayonetta's equipment.
 * In the prologue mission of Bayonetta, the character wields a set of handguns which look much like the two sets of pistols from Devil May Cry.
 * Gunslinger Style - Bayonetta's weapon Sai Fung has several moves like the Fireworks.
 * Stinger - Bayonetta's move "Stiletto" with shuraba looks exactly like this one. They even share the same command inputs.
 * Doppelganger Style is mimicked by Bayonetta's accessory "Sergey's Lover", which creates shadow clones of Bayonetta to assist her in battle.
 * Nero's Buster attacks are a similar mechanic to Bayonetta's Torture attacks.

Quotes

 * Bayonetta quotes Let's rock baby! - which was actually spoken by Dante in the first game.
 * Another quote Flock off, feather-face said by her to a flying boss, was also said by Dante to Griffon.
 * Rodin indirectly alludes to Dante when he says, Some people may have a thing for the 45s, but to me, these are the real works of art, since Dante's signature handguns are .45s.

Other

 * When you finish half of the Alfheim arenas you will be awarded with a Trophy/Achievement Angels May Cry - a unique opposite to Devil May Cry. They also reward the player with either a life boost, or a magic boost, as they do in the secret missions.
 * When the Lost Chapter is unlocked, Bayonetta makes a pose similar to Trish's in the Devil May Cry logo.
 * In a graveyard scene of the game Bayonetta, there is a tombstone with a written inscription in it saying Team Little Angels - the team who developed the first Devil May Cry game was Team Little Devils.
 * The accessory "Immortal Marionette" closely resembles the Bloody Mari enemy, and is even nicknamed "Bloody" in its item description.
 * Team Little Devils is referenced again by the "Little Devils," a gang of demons Bayonetta can summon with her "Infernal Communicator" accessory.
 * Fortuna and Vigrid, the main area in which Bayonetta takes place, are very similar in architectural style.
 * Even the flowers in breakable flowerpots have a similar design.
 * The Order of the Sword in Devil May Cry 4 and the Lumen Sages of Bayonetta have similar vestiments, since both are roughly based on Catholic robes.
 * The Perfect Amulet - Bayonetta has one-half of a set of jems called the Eyes of the World.
 * Bayonetta's associated Eye of the World is red, while the second half of the set is blue, much like Dante and Vergil's associated color schemes.
 * Both games draw certain inspirations from the Divine Comedy.

Similarities in DmC: Devil May Cry
Bayonetta was released before DmC: Devil May Cry, so any similarities between the two games can be attributed to DmC being like Bayonetta, rather than the other way around.
 * Limbo is almost identical to the concept of Purgatorio in Bayonetta. Both are connected to the human world but separate; humans can be seen as ghostly specters but can't be interacted with; and changes to the environments of both Purgatorio and Limbo affect the associated elements of the human world, although Purgatorio's environmental changes have a direct impact, unlike Limbo's changes, where only certain strong "echos" have real world residual affects.
 * Both games rely heavily on environmental hazards, such as pathways giving way beneath the player character's feet or walls suddenly collapsing, requiring the player to navigate these hazards by running, jumping, and executing well-timed button presses.
 * Failing to navigate these environmental hazards results in the character resetting at the beginning of the obstacle while penalizing them with a slight loss of health.
 * Controls - Both DmC and Bayonetta utilize strings of commands to execute attacks, such as pressing, , in quick succession.
 * In Bayonetta, however, this is a lock-on button which allows for the exact same attack to be executed with three simultaneous button presses, e.g. +  +, which is more similar to the input command of Devil May Cry 4.
 * Paradise is visually beautiful and tranquil in both series.
 * The battle with Poison shares similarities with the battle against Iustitia: both are fought on platforms above a lake of poison; spray the ground with a substance that damages the character upon contact; must be stunned to make reachable a central weak spot, which, when attacked, will sever something connected to the boss and hasten the end of the fight; have red spots on their foreheads, (though Iustitia has mutliple faces, all with this forehead gem); slam and break platforms; and have multiple appendages.
 * Devil Trigger in DmC: Devil May Cry functions more like Witch Time in Bayonetta than the Devil Trigger of previous Devil May Cry titles: Both leave enemies helpless and allow the character to rack up combos free of danger.
 * Nephilim - Bayonetta and the Sparda twins are genetically half-darkness and half-light, and are hunted because of it.